Is The March 18th Geomagnetic Storm Going To Wipe Out The Power Grid?

The following excerpt is from an article that originally appeared on SHTF Plan

There has been widespread fear that a geomagnetic storm scheduled for March 18 will wipe out power grids and cause panic. Is it time to prepare for the worst?

We can all breathe easy for now. It looks like this threat of grid failure is simply fear mongering. The magnetic storm’s imminent arrival was one of Monday morning’s top science news stories, according to Google News. But the coverage of the storm appeared to be based on a misinterpretation of a chart posted on Russia’s Lebedev Institute’swebsite showing a minor uptick in geomagnetic activity on the 18th of March. That elevated activity is expected to be a minor storm at most, however.

This scale is based in part on an index created from the amount of magnetic deviation a storm might produce on the ground combined with measurements of a variety of currents with fabulous names, including the “auroral electrojets” and the “field-aligned current.” The measurement of another type of current is called the “disturbance storm time index,” according to NOAA’s website.

Of course, this doesn’t mean preparing for the potentiality of a horrific power grid failure should halt immediately, it’s simply to state that the evidence available doesn’t support a power grid failure on March 18th. A massive geomagnetic storm would be a really big deal for much of humanity.